Objected to using water meter work to finance Wi-Fi expansion

EVANSVILLE - A state regulatory agency on Wednesday turned down a city of Evansville plan to modernize its water metering system.

The Smart City initiative with Johnson Controls, announced in November by then-Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel, involved plans for expanded Wi-Fi access as well as updated aging, inaccurate water meters.

In turning down Evansville's request to issue debt for the project, the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission objected to the tie-in between financing for meter work and Wi-Fi expansion.

"We strongly caution Evansville that any future requests for approval of financing for this project must demonstrate that ratepayer funds will not be used to impermissibly subsidize a public Wi-Fi broadband network," the agency's decision states.

Other objections cited by the IURC were based on financing capability and what the agency thought was a too-small sample size to justify the project. The $51 million performance contract would have been paid by the savings the city saw from the technology upgrade, Weinzapfel said in November.

Current Mayor Lloyd Winnecke and other city officials said Wednesday that they anticipated the state agency's decision, and a revised plan with Johnson Controls is being discussed.

Winnecke unveiled his own new program, which he called Positive Progress for a Smart City. A news release from his office called it "an evolution of the previous administration's initiative."

He estimated the program will create 170 new jobs.

"The initiative will not only improve the accuracy of water meters, but more than 90 percent of the dollars spent on this project will stay in the community in terms of materials and labor needed to complete the work," Winnecke states in the release.

Winnecke's plan calls for an Automated Meter Reading system replacing water meters citywide that are more than 5 years old, eliminating the need for manually-read meters.

A fiber optic network would support the new system and also would help the city attract new or expanding businesses, Winnecke said.

The mayor's news release quotes Greg Wathen, president and CEO of the Economic Development Coalition of Southwest Indiana, as saying only a few cities now have a comparable program, and "as far as future businesses become interested in our region, it's a definite game changer."

Financing in the city's revised contract with Johnson Controls also will be subject to IURC review.

"I think if we address the reasons for their concern and bring it back to them, it will go forward." said Allen Mounts, manager of the Evansville Water & Sewer Utility.